Emerson College released a poll of the Michigan gubernatorial race this week and, with the primary just two weeks from today, it’s looking increasingly like it will turn out as expected with former Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer facing off against our rabid conservative ideologue and Attorney General Bill Schuette:

Democratic Primary
Whitmer 39
Thanedar 17
El-Sayed 12

Republican Primary
Schuette 35
Calley 13

General Election
Whitmer 43
Schuette 36

Not only is Whitmer looking solid for the general election with a seven point advantage, if you look only at “very likely voters”, Whitmer leads Schuette by a whopping 13 points.

Second, Abdul El-Sayed’s dismal performance is being rebutted by this supporters who say they aren’t being polled because they don’t use landlines. This is a valid argument and it is true that the Emerson College poll was a combination of online polling and “IVR” (interactive voice response phone calls to landlines only) polling. However, these factors are taken into account in FiveThirtyEight’s ranking so the argument may not be as accurate as they claim. We’ll know two weeks from now.

In the meantime, El-Sayed continues his efforts to demonize Whitmer as a corporate shill, beholden to big money interests like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan whose employees raised money for her. A recent ad on her behalf run by the Super PAC “Build a Better Michigan” was criticized as coming from “dark money” sources, an accusation bolstered by the fact that they did not submit their donor list electronically. The managers of the Super PAC say it was due to a technical snafu, a claim El-Sayed’s supporters called BS on since it meant the donors wouldn’t be made public until after the primary. However, after pressure from Jonathan Oosting at The Detroit News and others — along with multiple fundraising emails from the El-Sayed campaign which continued to speculate that she was bought and paid for by Big Business — the Super PAC released their donor list yesterday. Turns out that, despite the attacks from her opponents, the vast majority of her money came from labor unions, Democratic groups, and progressive groups like Emily’s List.

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I’d wonder if their delay was intentional, designed to work El-Sayed’s supporters into a lather and lure them out to the end of the “she’s a corporate shill!” branch, only to quietly saw the branch off behind them when the donor list was finally revealed.

I find it increasingly difficult to understand the endgame here. If Whitmer DOES clinch the primary, what will El-Sayed tell his followers? “Time to support the woman I have told you is an evil, corporate shill for the past year”? The general election is going to be tight. We are going to need ALL progressives pulling the rope in the same direction and I fear this won’t happen thanks to his highly negative campaign. The same can be said of Thanedar and his supporters, too, of course (though I question just how many actual “supporters” Thanedar really has.)

For his part, Thanedar has now turned his sights on Whitmer and has sent out at least two large mailers in the past week, characterizing her as bathing in money from BCBS, despite the fact that it isn’t actually true. One of the mailers shows her being showered in paper money, another ironic idea given that Thanedar has put at least $6 million of his own money into his campaign and seems to be raising little from anyone else.

Author: EclectablogChris Savage is the owner and publisher of Eclectablog, your one-stop shop for progressive state & national political news & commentary.

Search for:

Help support nearly ad-free blogging at Eclectablog

With YOUR support, all regular contributors at Eclectablog are paid for their work. If you would like to send a check to avoid fees being taken out, send it to: Chris Savage, P.O. Box 32, Dexter, MI 48130. Otherwise, you can use this Paypal form:

Other Amount:

Want to make a recurring monthly donation? Enter the amount you want to pay each month:

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has admitted to knowing about the poisoning of Flint's drinking water with lead. Despite this, there are STILL Flint residents who cannot drink their tap water without the use of a water filter.

LOLGOP on Twitter

Subscribe to FREE email notifications!

Subscribe to or unsubscribe from free email notifications when new posts are posted.Leave This Blank:Leave This Blank Too:Do Not Change This:

Your email:

Subscribe to a free email daily digest

If you'd like to receive one email per day with a list of all the previous day's posts, click HERE. NOTE: If you were subscribed prior to October 2016, you will need to resubscribe. This service is free.

Mitchell Robinson is associate professor and chair of music education at Michigan State University. His research is focused on music education and education policy. Follow him on Facebook HERE and Twitter at @mrobmsu. His own blog is at MitchellRobinson.net.

Susan J. Demas is a Democratic strategist, serving as vice president at Farough & Associates. She is a 17-year veteran of journalism and a syndicated political columnist for 12 years. She was most recently the editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics. Follow her on Twitter @sjdemas.

Tawana “Honeycomb” Petty is a mother, social justice organizer, youth advocate, poet and author. She was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and is intricately involved in water rights, digital justice and visionary organizing work in Detroit. You can learn more about Tawana "Honeycomb" Petty by visiting honeycombthepoet.com. Follow her on Twitter at @CombsThePoet.

Ammara Ansari is a Masters in Public Policy student at University of Michigan. She is a board member of the Canton Democratic Club and Finance Director for Megan Cavanagh for Supreme Court. Find her on twitter at @AmmaraAnsari16